Gr-eight Kirkby Lonsdale prove unstoppable for Anselmians

KIRKBY Lonsdale scored eight tries in a brilliant display which Wirral side Anslemians couldn’t live with.

Having given away an early penalty Kirkby went 3-0 down with three minutes on the clock, but the Underley Park side settled and put together some exquisite passages of play.

Young left wing Maddock broke a couple of tackles to score behind the posts with Cleary converting to put Kirkby ahead 7-3 - a lead they were never to lose.

Maddock was also involved in the second try when Kirkby attacked down the left flank. Cleary saw space outside and ran into it and when he received the pass from Maddock he outpaced the cover defence to score in the corner as Kirkby extended their lead to 12-3.

Anselmians edged back into it with a penalty to make it 12-6.

Anselmians captain Armstrong flattened Kirkby stand off Cleary with a late tackle, with retribution sought by Kirkby skipper Matt Hughes that meant the pair spent the next ten minutes in the bin.

But the blow didn’t slow Cleary down and his excellent passing and running from inside his own half saw Tom Pickthall beat his man before he put Jack Akrigg away. Cleary tracked the move and when he received the ball from Akrigg he scored to the right of the posts and kicked the conversion for 19-6.

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Ben Walker was creating problems for Anselmians, and he took a good offload from Stuart Storey to jink and feint his way up the right touchline to feed Martyn Knapton for the bonus point try. Knapton scored again in the left corner to make it 29 - 6 at half time.

There was no let up from the restart as Kirkby pressurised Anselmians all over the field.

Tosh Shepherd found a great gap for Kirkby’s sixth try and when the Anselmians scrum came under pressure, a penalty tryu was awarded, with Cleary kicking the extras to make it 41-6.

The home side were caught out when Anslemians worked the ball over for their only try to reduce the gap to 41-13, but order was almost immediately restored when Kirkby skipper Matt Hughes scored try number eight for the final score of 46-13.

Winger Josh Pewsey is fit again for next Saturday’s home game against Leigh who, with a victory over the Vale to their credit this season, will present a stern challenge for the Cumbrians.